Davia Oransky, from left, Jim Marsoobian, both 13 and students at La Paz Intermediate in Mission Viejo, and Sarah Chen, 16, a student at Woodbridge High in Irvine, joyfully watch as a helium balloon carries their experiments into space on Saturday, April 6, 2019 in Lake Forest. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Two teams of local students are hoping a balloon that fell from the sky has answers to their scientific questions.

Two Woodbridge High students from Irvine tested if wireless charging would work at 100,000 feet, while a pair of La Paz Intermediate students from Mission Viejo sought to see if liquids such as antifreeze and kerosene would freeze at that height.

Dorian Gonzalez, left, and Bill Garret with ScienceHeads, a Lake Forest-based non-profit, get ready to launch a high altitude helium balloon that will carry experiments designed and built by local middle and high school students in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 6, 2019. It will travel about 20-miles before parachuting back to earth in approximately one hour. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Bill Garret with Science Heads, a Lake Forest-based non-profit that supports STEM education, anchors a helium balloon that will travel about 20-miles into space. It will carry experiments designed and built by local middle and high school students and then parachute back to earth in approximately one hour on Saturday, April 6, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Davia Oransky, from left, Jim Marsoobian, both 13 and students at La Paz Intermediate in Mission Viejo, and Sarah Chen, 16, a student at Woodbridge High in Irvine, joyfully watch as a helium balloon carries their experiments into space on Saturday, April 6, 2019 in Lake Forest. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Two teams of local students are hoping a balloon will fall from the sky with answers to their scientific questions. Two Woodbridge High students from Irvine are testing if wireless charging would work at 100,000 feet, while a pair of La Paz Intermediate students from Mission Viejo want to see if liquids such as antifreeze […]

Bill Garret with Science Heads, a Lake Forest-based non-profit that supports STEM education, gets ready to release a helium balloon that will travel about 20-miles into space. It will carry experiments designed and built by local middle and high school students and then parachute back to earth in approximately one hour. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A helium balloon floats towards the heavens after being released in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 6, 2019. It will travel about 20-miles into space carrying experiments designed and built by local middle and high school students and then parachute back to earth in approximately one hour. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A helium balloon floats towards the heavens after being released in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 6, 2019. It will travel about 20-miles into space carrying experiments designed and built by local middle and high school students and then parachute back to earth in approximately one hour. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Bill Garret with Science Heads, a Lake Forest-based non-profit that supports STEM education, watches a helium balloon that will travel about 20-miles into space. It carrys experiments designed and built by local middle and high school students and then parachute back to earth in approximately one hour. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Kailer Riley, 9, visits the command center that tracks a high altitude balloon carrying experiments designed and built by local middle school and high school students in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 6, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A mobile observatory serves as the command center that tracks a high altitude balloon carrying experiments designed and built by local middle school and high school students in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 6, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Two teams of local students are hoping a balloon will fall from the sky with answers to their scientific questions. Two Woodbridge High students from Irvine are testing if wireless charging would work at 100,000 feet, while a pair of La Paz Intermediate students from Mission Viejo want to see if liquids such as antifreeze […]

Two teams of local students are hoping a balloon will fall from the sky with answers to their scientific questions. Two Woodbridge High students from Irvine are testing if wireless charging would work at 100,000 feet, while a pair of La Paz Intermediate students from Mission Viejo want to see if liquids such as antifreeze […]

The command center tracks the high altitude balloon that carries experiments designed and built by local middle school and high school students. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Norm Crow with South Orange Amateur Radio Association, works the command center that tracks a balloon carrying experiments into space in Lake Forest on Saturday, April 6, 2019. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The balloon carrying their experiments was launched from the Lake Forest Sports Park Saturday morning, April 6.

The balloon went 110,000 feet high near the edge of space before it popped and landed at a private property near Palomar Mountain. The group needs to secure the property owner’s permission to retrieve their experiments, which is expected to take about a week, said Richard Stember, the executive director of Lake Forest-based nonprofit Science Heads, which organized the balloon launch.

The students were hoping the balloon would float to at least 100,000 feet because there’s a very thin atmosphere and a huge amount of ultraviolet and cosmic radiation at that altitude, much like the surface of Mars, Stember said.

“This, in effect, is a good analog for discovering what living on Mars would be like,” he said.

This is the third balloon launch for Science Heads, which supports science education and increased science literacy. The next launch is planned for November.

Jeong Park covers the inland Orange County cities and communities for The Orange County Register. He was born in Korea but grew up in Southern California, bouncing from Van Nuys to Pomona to Westwood, where he attended UCLA. He spent few months in Indiana as a reporter before coming to the Register. He is always looking for good Asian food, which there are thankfully plenty of in OC.